Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Death Is Like A Box Of Chocolates (A Chocolate Covered Mystery #1) by Kathy Aarons

Whether it’s to satisfy a craving for chocolate or pick up the hottest new bestseller, the locals in charming West Riverdale, Maryland, are heading to Chocolates and Chapters, where everything sold is to die for…

Best friends Michelle Serrano and Erica Russell are celebrating the sweet rewards of their combined bookstore and chocolate shop by hosting the Great Fudge Cook-off during the town’s Memorial Day weekend Arts Festival. But success turns bittersweet when Main Street’s portrait photographer is found dead in their store, poisoned by Michelle’s signature truffles.

As suspicion mounts against Michelle, her sales begin to crumble and her career seems whipped. With Erica by her side, Michelle must pick through an assortment of suspects before the future of their dream store melts away…

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES

Includes Scrumptious Chocolate-Making Recipes!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Animals Are Us

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania with a wonderful assortment of animals. My father was a dog person, but somehow my animal-loving mother convinced him that kids needs pets. Lots of pets. Which was why we had dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and fish.

Some of my favorite stories from my childhood involve neighbors’ pets and stray animals. The neighbor’s cow that was in love with our pony and would break through his wooden fence to gaze lovingly through our electric fence. (We’d say he was mooo-ning over her.)

The neighbor’s dachshund that was lonely when the kids in the family went off to college and would visit in the evening where one of us would tuck her into a small bed with blankets on our porch. Her owners said she’d return home in the morning for breakfast.

Then there was the time my five-year-old brother came in from playing outside to tell my mother there was a pig outside. She assumed he was imagining it until she saw the huge pink pig waddling through the yard. It was Petunia, the pet of another neighbor. And not the cute little tea cup pigs that are popular today. A real 300 pound pig.

But my mom’s favorite story is the time I called her from band camp to say that a cat had given birth to five kittens in one of the cabins, and I just had to bring them home or they’d starve. And freeze. And my parents actually said yes! Other band kids promised to take a kitten when they were old enough, and from what I remember, they actually did, so it was a very nice community, save-the-kitties effort.

Even though allergies prevent me from having a cat as an adult, I had a lot of childhood experience to draw from in writing my book.

Cocoa is a very cool cat that refuses to enter buildings and has a secret life. You can learn all about it in Death is Like a Box of Chocolates.
 

Kathy Aarons is the author of Death is Like a Box of Chocolates, the first in the CHOCOLATE COVERED MYSTERY series by Berkley Prime Crime. It will be available at your local bookstore, Amazon and Barnes and Noble on September 2^nd.

Research for the series was such a hardship: sampling chocolate, making chocolate, sampling more chocolate, and hanging out in bookstores.

After growing up in rural Pennsylvania and attending Carnegie Mellon University, Kathy built a career in public relations in New York City. She now lives in San Diego with her husband and two daughters where she wakes up far too early, and is currently obsessed with the Broadway Idiot documentary, finding the perfect cup of coffee, and Dallmann’s Sea Salt Caramels.

Author Website | Facebook | Twitter

Women LOVE chocolate.  And so many of us LOVE books and reading.  So to put them together in a bookstore/chocolate shop.......... brilliant!  From the moment I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down.  It was a clever setting with strong, successful female characters, and the mystery is a realistic and thrilling story!  There's also a touch of romance with both Erica and Michelle, leaving room for so much more in the books to follow. 

Ms. Aarons has a gem of a series on her hands here, and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next! :)  

Rating: 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own. 

Thanks to the awesome ladies at Penguin, I have 1 paperback copy of Death Is Like A Box of Chocolate by Kathy Aarons to give away to one of my lucky readers!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win, and be sure to keep checking back for more awesome giveaways! 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway